-bullets fired, getaway car found in Stewartville

Four bandits yesterday morning snatched $9.5 million from a Bartica businessman at Good Hope, East Bank Essequibo in a brazen mid-morning attack that saw them unleashing a barrage of gunfire in their bid to escape in a stolen car which was later found in Stewartville.

Up to press time last evening the police were grilling the owner of the car that the businessman, Nazim Kassim, was in and the owner of the bandits’ getaway car. The culprits are still on the run.

From all appearances, the men knew the movements of the businessman well as they pounced when the man had stopped to take his customary coffee break at the taxi driver’s Good Hope home.

A quick response by the police led to the recovery of the car and several road blocks were set up to aid in the capture of the men but were unsuccessful.
Stabroek News was told yesterday that a 31-year-old man who operates a private taxi would pick Kassim up at Parika every week. Kassim, according to reports, would leave Bartica where he has a general store to conduct business. He also buys and sells gold.

A relative of the driver said that as normal he picked up the man who has close ties to the family yesterday morning and about two minutes before they arrived at the home, he called his wife asking her to prepare the man’s coffee.

She said that when they arrived just before 11am, the driver parked the car in the driveway a few metres away from the bridge and entrance to the yard and went to the door waiting for the coffee.

According to her, shortly after she noticed a white car had stopped on the public road and four men had jumped out. One, she said, went to the driver’s side door, stretched into the vehicle and pulled up the latch for the trunk.

His accomplices, who by this time had positioned themselves behind the car, opened the truck and removed a bag and several boxes which contained the cash.
Asked where the businessman was at this time, the relative said that the man was in the back seat of the car speaking to someone on his cellular phone and may not have been aware of what was happening until it was too late.

She said that it was only when the driver started to scream and run towards the vehicle that the man jumped out and started to shout as well.
The bandit who had pulled the latch for the trunk, the relative said, ripped off his vehicle’s plate, falling in the process.
As the vehicle sped off the robbers discharged several rounds.

“When I look out after hearing the shots, the place was sheer smoke”, the relative recalled, adding that the taxi driver jumped into his car and drove after the bandits. When they had reached Zeelugt, several villages away and the men realized that they were being followed, they unleashed another volley of bullets, while in a reverse mode.
The driver was forced to reverse his car as well from there to Tuschen to escape injury.
The men then drove off in the direction they were originally heading.
The bag which contained clothing and documents was later found minus the money on the roadway at Mango Tree Dam in Philadelphia, which is three villages away from where the robbery occurred.

Relatives of the taxi driver said that police usually patrol the district all day so within minutes they were on the scene conducting investigations while another group of policemen went in search of the car with the bandits.

The car was later found abandoned on a dam in Stewartville North West. One resident told this newspaper that the car was parked there for almost an hour before the police arrived.

He said the ranks who were dressed in dark blue were forced to break one of the windows with a hammer to get in.
According to the resident a man dressed in all white was seen running from the parked car but the police failed to find him after conducting searches.
‘They tek too long fuh come man. By then da man din don gone”, he said adding the man had dropped off another man in the area minutes before parking the car. Asked about the car, he said that it was all white and bore a number plate that only had HB printed on it.

It would appear that after committing the robbery the bandits switched the number plates to help make their getaway easier.
Stabroek News was told that the driver and Kassim were later taken to the Leonora Police Station for questioning. While there a man turned up claiming ownership of the car that the bandits had used in the robbery. He reportedly told the police that he was relieved of it at gunpoint earlier in the day. He too was detained for questioning.

Last evening, relatives expressed concern for the welfare of the driver. According to them, they searched all the police stations in the district and have been unable to locate him. They said too that the police are not telling them anything and as such they are worried.
A relative said that she had seen the car and it has no bullet holes.

They said that they have been unable to contact the businessman and stressed that he is a close friend of the family. This newspaper was shown two of the businessman’s vehicles including one which is under repair, that are parked at the home.
Over the years, Kassim has fallen victim to bandits and during the last robbery which occurred in the city, the same driver was escorting him.
He was released after spending several days in custody.